Iraqi families sue Blackwater in U.S. court
Federal suit filed in Washington on behalf of slain and injured Iraqis

(CNN) — A Philadelphia law firm filed suit against Blackwater USA on Thursday on behalf of the families of Iraqis killed and injured in last month’s shooting in Baghdad’s Nusoor Square.

In this September 24 photo, an Iraqi looks at a car that was destroyed during the September 16 incident.

1 of 2 The suit calls the incident a “senseless slaying” and claims it was part of “Blackwater’s lengthy pattern of egregious misconduct in Iraq.”

“This was a summary execution, an execution without a trial,” said Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights which is part of the legal team.

The September 16 shooting in western Baghdad left 17 Iraqis dead, according to Iraqi officials who called the incident “premeditated murder” in a report released this month.

Blackwater, which guards U.S. diplomats, has said that its contractors “acted lawfully and appropriately” in response to an attack on a U.S. Embassy convoy. But Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh has said an Iraqi investigation found no proof that the convoy was attacked.

A joint U.S.-Iraqi investigation is ongoing. The FBI is leading the U.S. investigation.

The suit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., says Blackwater “created and fostered a culture of lawlessness amongst its employees, encouraging them to act in the company’s financial interests at the expense of innocent human life.”

The suit was filed on behalf of the estates of Himoud Saed Atban, Usama Fadhil Abbass and Oday Ismail Ibraheem, who were killed. It also represents Talib Mutlaq Deewan, who, the suit said, was “seriously injured.”

Susan Burke, attorney for the plaintiffs, told CNN that Deewan and the other parties approached her firm, Burke O’Neil LLC, which she said represented parties involved in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal. The Center for Constitutional Rights, based in New York, is also part of the legal team.

We have a Democratic Congress who is seemingly unwilling to regulate these jokers. The meek steps that they have taken recently are a joke. They should have been on this THE DAY they took over. We knew the GOP was deaf, dumb and blind, as these mercenaries ran amuck. There is absolutely no reason why these War Profiteers should be allowed to run around unregulated. And, if it takes being dragged into court to get some answers about the horrors that they are doing, then so be it.

Correction: about Blackwater hiring the South Africans. Made a mistake. Thanks to the reader for correcting me. The South African Mercenaries will be in a separate story.

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